


target practice

by svitzian



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Brother-Sister Relationships, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano Friendship, Gen, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Rex is a good big brother, Shooting, Shooting Range, Sibling Bonding, Team as Family, setting is like... clone wars seasons 1/2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27397237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svitzian/pseuds/svitzian
Summary: Rex helps the new Commander work on her aim.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 10
Kudos: 97





	target practice

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanted to write something tonight so this happened. it's very short but i was glad that i got to write something. i also haven't written very much (any???) rex or ahsoka, so it was fun to try and work with their characters!  
> also should mention this is technically from the day 5 fictober prompt-- yes i know it's not fictober and i know that was a month ago but i like having prompt lists to go off of, so i did it hehe  
> hope you enjoy!

“Unacceptable. Try again.”

Though he can’t see her face, Ahsoka’s sigh, long-suffering and annoyed, is more than loud enough to reach his ears. With his bucket on, mostly to hide his expression from his Commander, Rex allows himself an amused smile.

“I _hit_ it.”

Kriff, it’s hard to keep from chuckling. “Yeah, but you didn’t hit it in the center, did you?”

Ahsoka whips around at that, and Rex notes again how obvious her annoyance is. Skywalker would probably lecture her on it, if he were here. Skywalker’s not here, though, off in some Council meeting instead—which means that it’s time for shooting practice, again, which just so happens to be Ahsoka’s least favorite way to pass the time. At least, that’s what Rex assumes from the look on her face.

“I hit it close enough.” There’s an edge to her voice. She’s getting testy. That’s fine—Rex has dealt with enough shinies who thought they knew it all. One more’s not gonna be the end of him.

He takes a deep breath and steps closer to the edge of their makeshift shooting range, letting his HUD focus on the latest in the line of expired ration packs to be blasted off a durasteel ledge. This one’s on the floor, now, darkened from the blaster shot—but his bucket’s display shows him right where the focus of the shot was. Bottom left corner of the package, and _not_ the center.

“You got it off the ledge,” Rex notes, his voice momentarily appraising—can’t be too tough on the kid, after all. She _is_ good with a blaster, for someone with so little experience— _scary_ good, almost, probably due to some Force thing that Rex will never really understand—and Rex knows that if he’s too hard right now, her focus will scramble, and she’ll be a messy shot because of it. There’s a lesson to be learned in that—keep a level head when shooting, _always_ —but that one can wait until another time. Today, they’re only working on aiming, and Rex is about to speak up some more before Ahsoka beats him to it.

“Yeah, I got it off the ledge,” she says quickly, jumping on his words with all the exasperation of someone a _lot_ younger than Rex ever remembers being. “I hit it. It’s down. Darth Ration Pack isn’t gonna come back anytime soon.”

Usually, the kid’s attempts at wittiness are charming enough—and even when they land flat, they’re enough of a break from the stress and seriousness of battle that Rex usually smiles anyways. This time, though, his expression hardens—not that she can see it, but that’s never stopped him—and he steps forward, gesturing to the wounded ration pack.

“You see that?”

Ahsoka nods.

“Know where you hit it?”

Lips press together. Her forehead knits. “Not really, but I don’t see how that matters. I still hit it—”

This time, Rex doesn’t let her finish. “You hit it, alright.” He reaches out and pokes a finger into his thigh. “Right about there, I’d say.” The raise of his eyebrows is in his voice. “You think that’s gonna be a fatal hit?”

Ahsoka’s face dampens enough for Rex to know she already knows the answer, but she shifts awkwardly on her feet. In a lot of ways, she’s like the General—stubborn to the last. “Maybe if Darth Ration Pack bled out.”

Rex scoffs. “And you’re gonna just wait for that to happen, and hope you don’t get blaster fire coming right back at you in the meantime?”

Ahsoka finally deflates fully, glancing down as she kicks at the ground with her boot. Rex almost feels a little bad— _almost._ “No,” she admits sulkily.

“That’s why you want to hit the center the first time,” Rex says firmly, stepping forward to pick up his blaster from the ledge Ahsoka’s rested it on, feeling the weight of it in his hand, remembering when _he’d_ been the one learning this lesson. “You don’t always get more than one chance. And, kid…”

He hesitates, just for a moment—but this is a war, he reminds himself, and even if Rex doesn’t like thinking about his Commander in danger… she’s going to be eventually, whether he likes it or not. Best he can do is try to teach her a few lessons, so when the time comes, she can protect herself.

“I know you’ve got your lightsaber. I know you and the General like to rely on that first, and that’s fine. But odds are, you’re gonna find yourself in some situation without one someday, and knowing how to work this?” He holds up his blaster again. “Could save your life. Just… try and remember that.”

Ahsoka looks thoroughly reprimanded, and a bit solemn—but she also looks like she’s starting to actually _listen_ to him, not just hear him, and she nods. “I understand,” she says, gaze falling on him, matching his seriousness with her own. “And… I will. I’ll remember.”

Rex takes a deep breath, and nods once. “Good.” A moment later, his arm is outstretched again, holding out his blaster to Ahsoka. “Now try again.”

Ahsoka doesn’t hesitate to take the blaster, though this time, she seems to handle it… almost reverently, with far more seriousness than she had before. Rex dares to feel a little bit optimistic as she raises the weapon, lining up her shot with the next ration pack on the ledge.

“Remember what I taught you,” Rex says, as firm and steady as he can be—the last thing he wants is to throw Ahsoka’s nerves right now, but he can sense a bit of hesitation, and that won’t do at all if she’s going to make this shot. “Breathe. Don’t overthink it, and _breathe_ , kid.”

Ahsoka doesn’t nod—probably doesn’t want to risk messing up her aim—but there’s the slightest hint of relaxation that comes to her shoulders, and Rex knows that his words have had the intended effect. She’s loosening up, breathing, just like he’d instructed, just before her finger pulls at the trigger—

The ration pack goes down just as the one before it did, in a flurry of motion, and Rex holds his breath for a moment. Ahsoka does, too, until she’s lowering the blaster and peeking back at him, and Rex doesn’t need the Force to feel the nervous anticipation in the air.

“Did I do it?”

To be honest, the whole thing had been such a blur that Rex hadn’t seen _where_ the shot had ended up—but now, he sharpens his HUD, letting it focus in on the latest in their long line of shot-through ration packs, this one still smoking somewhere where it lays on the ground, shot clean through the center.

_Kriff._ Rex has to take a moment to breathe out, because hell, with more lessons… _Kid’s gonna be a great shot._

“Yeah,” he says, once he’s processed what his display is showing him. “Yeah, you did it.”

Ahsoka’s eyes widen, and she steps forward. “I got it in the center?”

It’s hard _not_ to smile at the barely-restrained hope audible in her voice, so Rex lets himself—and, for good measure, he reaches up, pulling off his bucket so that the kid can actually _see_ his grin. Let her feel proud—she made progress, damn good progress, and she deserves it.

“Yeah, kid,” Rex says again, and in a moment, Ahsoka’s smile grows to match Rex’s own. “Right in the center. Cleanest shot I’ve ever seen.”

It’s definitely not the cleanest shot he’s ever seen. Good, yes, but not the cleanest—but the kid’s smiling so bright already, and Rex can’t help but indulge her a little more. _Probably a bad habit to start up,_ he thinks to himself, or at least, the part of him that remembers what it was like _before_ he’d had a Padawan Commander to fight alongside thinks. _Shouldn’t get too close to the kid._ Shouldn’t get too close to _anyone_ in war, really, but…

It feels good, seeing the Commander smile like this, and Rex decides not to care about all that right now.

“ _Sithspit,_ ” the kid breathes out, having stepped forward a few paces while Rex lost himself in his thoughts. He’s never heard that word before, not even from the General. He knows it’s definitely some kind of curse from the tone alone, but Rex doesn’t lecture her on it—she’s probably already heard worse in the short time she’s been out on the front, anyways, and before he can even get a chance, she’s turning back to look at him, eyes wide and stunned. “Did you _see_ it?”

Rex chuckles, and taps his fingers against his bucket where he’s holding it against his side. “Sure did.”

Ahsoka flushes a bit—no doubt she’s forgotten, again, just how clone helmets work, how their HUDs work—but she doesn’t get tripped up for long, stepping back towards Rex with a beaming grin. “Master Skywalker’s not gonna believe it.”

Rex grins, and nods towards the murdered ration pack. “You’ll have to show him, as proof.”

Ahsoka beams at the suggestion. “Good idea,” she nods, stepping forward already to go and retrieve it. “I’ll go and show him as soon as he’s done with the Council.”

She’s wrapped up in her thoughts, living in her own joyful little world, so Rex stays back, watching silently as she picks up the ration pack, admiring the blaster scoring on it, the shot clean in the middle—and then, when she returns to his side with a pep to her step, he lets himself smile again, nodding once at her.

“You did good today, kid,” he admits, and she smiles even more from the praise. “Always need more practice, but… you did good.”

For once, Ahsoka doesn’t wince at the mention of more practice—and perhaps it’s just a trick of Rex’s vision, or maybe she even smiles a bit more. “I know.” There’s a mock exasperation to her voice, dry but affectionate, and the smile never leaves her lips. “Practice makes perfect, Captain.”

Throwing his own words back at him, now. She’s a quick one. “You’re right about that, Commander,” he replies smoothly, and raises his brows at her. “Same time tomorrow?”

Not a moment passes before Ahsoka nods, firm and resolute. “Mhm. Same time tomorrow.”

“Good.” She turns to leave, heading off no doubt to tell every poor brother in her path about her success in shooting, and Rex smiles to himself, even as he sets about the undesirable job of picking up the wounded ration packs left behind on their battlefield—

But just as he does, a voice stops him. “Rex?”

He turns again, eyebrows raised slightly, and finds Ahsoka looking back at him, ration pack held close to her chest like some prized possession. He’s about to ask what’s wrong, if she needs help with anything else, but she beats him to it, her eyes shining with sincerity and a maturity Rex still feels alarmed at the depth of.

“Thank you. For teaching me.”

Rex can’t help it, dammit. His chest warms, and he smiles again, ignoring the fact that his cheeks hurt just a bit from all this _kriffing_ smiling.

“Anytime, kid.”

Ahsoka’s smile slips back onto her lips at the nickname, and Rex chuckles, waving a hand. “Now, c’mon. Go show the General that you’ve made it as a sharpshooter.” Ahsoka ducks her head, smiling to herself still, and a moment later, she’s rounding the corner, slipping out of Rex’s view.

Rex takes a deep breath once she’s gone, that stupid smile still on his face—and even as he bends over to pick up the first blaster-scored ration pack of many, he thinks in the back of his mind that maybe this ‘having a Commander around’ business really _isn’t_ so bad, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed, and thanks so much for reading!!! please leave a kudos or a comment if you liked, they make me feel very happy.  
> as always i can be found:  
> on tumblr @dotnscal  
> on twitter @G0NKDROID (first one is a zero, second one is an o <3)


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